By now, some readers may have noticed there is no Democrat I have linked to or mentioned more often than Loudoun County Supervisor Stevens Miller, even before he had his own blog, and most of these references have not been negative. For one thing, I happen to be able to communicate with him because he is usually pragmatic, in conversations he will consider different points of view regardless of the ideological underpinnings, and he has a self-deprecating sense of humor. These traits set him apart from the caricature I have in my mind of the typical liberal. In addition, he is an articulate tech guy – not a common specimen.

As our readers certainly know, civility has always been the coin of the realm here at NOVATownHall (and now more than ever): It is a standard I try to foster. Not much over a month ago, in fact, Mr. Miller and I shared a pleasant exchange. All well and good.

But I must say, I was somewhat irked to see that the good Supervisor has gone ahead and launched a unilateral salvo of goodwill which caught me completely off guard, stating “Budzinski …. Insults are beneath him.”

Of course, the statement is completely true – save for rare, uncharacteristic and utterly forgotten references to certain national political figures, certain local political figures, certain late-night commenters, and representatives of a certain government agency which, ahem, sometimes delivers letters.

Insults: I barely understand how they even work, much less can I formulate them.

Yet how am I to respond, to keep pace with this exhausting regimen of friendly banter and well-deserved praise emanating from my now-archrival in conjuring up totally appropriate compliments?

Mr. Miller: Is it your belief, sir, that I have somehow tapped into a bottomless well of good-tidings? Do you imagine that the cup of my vocabulary over-runneth with synonyms for “love”? Is the entry for “thesaurus” in your dictionary, sir, accompanied by a drawing of Joe Budzinski? Do you imagine, sir, that I live in the land of unicorns and rainbows where the weather is always mild and our hearts perpetually bathed in the warmth of a golden light?

Well I stand here to inform you, sir, that I do NOT live in that land. I live in Sterling. And I have a mortgage. And my landscaping is sub-optimal. At best.

Yes, I absorbed your preliminary artillery barrage of professional amity. And while I admit it has left me bruised and battered, I am far from defeated, and you mark my words, sir: I shall restock my cache of positive adjectives, I shall reload, and I shall rise to fight another day.

Well, Supervisor, I can say with assurance that my lawn is distinctly NON-sustainable and depends for its sustenance on bright orange bags of material which as far as I can tell is green paint, so on that basis it would appear that order has been restored and we can return to our respective ideological bastions.

Mr. Stone, I see that you also came in for an approving word from our favorite Democratic supervisor. Perhaps we should re-title this site “NOVA TownHall, Playground of the Saints.”

Thanks, CathyMac…. Passive/aggressive ….. All of us are now sitting back from the screen , rubbing our chins and saying ” That is exactly the words I was looking for”!!!!

Written by GStone about 7 years ago.

Joe, I owe it all to NVTH. Before becoming here I was just another regular smuck, flailing around the marketplace of ideas. It is the Bright Light from this special place that has not only shown me the way, but made me tolerable to even Democrats.

I am willing to hold a “Stone, Seeman and Budzinski are Rat Finks Rally” to restore their oppositional names in the Loudoun Democrat Community – so far I have one other willing participant.

Here are a couple sign suggestions for anyone that wants to join:

“Don’t believe that nice guy act from Seeman, he kicks puppies”

“Take that halo off Stone’s head and shove it where the sun don’t shine”

“What kind of name is Budzinski anyways?”

Date is to be determined, however I’m fairly certain this rally will be held outside a pub, where they pour Guinness from a Tap and serve a nice Cabernet. Any keynote speaker suggestions are welcome, but I can assure you this will be a SHORT event, particularly if it rains. Nobody (well, me) needs to have their hair frizz up over this silliness.

Written by sally about 7 years ago.

Cathymac, Stevens may not like Stone, Tom or Joe so much if you have a rally for them, even if it is a rat fink rally!

Neither Greg nor Tom were “real” people when they came to testify to the Board, but since they missed our rally walk through the Board room, and did not speak, they are all of a sudden looking pretty good. Don’t think Stevens liked whoever it was who dressed up like the pig with the sign around its neck… you guys are looking sooo reasonable in comparison!

So, by having that CBPO Cairo in Leesburg Rally, I take a fair amount of credit in making you all look good–to Stevens Miller anyway!

Or you could come to our next rally, or speak at the next public input session, and then you could regain your badge of honor and be on his “list” of people to insult again…

Barbara, I am shocked he said anything nice about you– guess he really thinks he has a chance to get elected to something, going to run for something, trying to change his stripes from his typically dismissive and insulting tone? can understand him sucking up to Brian, who never comes to any public input sessions, and lives in Ffx, where Stevens may think he can pick up unsuspecting voters… but you??

Anyway, really funny that he is trying to make nice to you all! I am sure you are just basking in the glory….

Written by sally about 7 years ago.

And Joe, don’t mention “play grounds” or “play sets” — or you will be labeled a “developer” by the staff and Stevens.. then you won’t be a saint any more… just a warning… too much impervious surface those play sets…

Especially since Mr. Stevens told Lori Waters he does not know what a play set is, it is an automatic label..

Written by GStone about 7 years ago.

“So, by having that CBPO Cairo in Leesburg Rally, I take a fair amount of credit in making you all look good–to Stevens Miller anyway!

I will take all the help I can get !

Written by Barbara Munsey about 7 years ago.

It was a bit of a backhanded compliment–he said that I am “online everywhere”, but always sign my name, and he respects that.

That’s quite nice, and more than fair from someone who doesn’t like me to the degree that when he ran for office and was at my precinct, when he saw me walking up the hill from my house to take my volunteer stint, he got in his car and left.

But maybe it was just time to go?

I’d hate to overpersonalize, and get all obsessive/compulsive about it!

Written by Wolverine about 7 years ago.

Gee, you put out a call for blog civility and you wind up with a kissy face soap opera. I asked for a cooling of the verbal jets a bit, not abject surrender!!! You’d think I made a wrong blog turn and wound up with Aunt Fanny’s Country Cooking and Knitting.com. I can just see Mrs. Stoner knitting cute little booties for the Stoner’s Glochs. Next thing you know, the Monk will show up at an LCRC meeting wearing a polkadot bow tie and penny loafers, driving an old Yugo. And Barbara M will invite the whole PEC Board of Directors over for afternoon tea, surprising one and all with a campaign to have South Riding bulldozed and turned into a natural park as part of the Hallowed Ground. And to think I just found somebody named Budzinski who married into my own family tree. ACT — I am clamming up. This stuff is just too much for a Yank to swallow.

Wolve, you may notice that I was specifically left out! The last word I had for Stevens was that he needed to fire certain members of the Staff that’s ramming the CBPO down our throats.
He’s still mad at me. And that’s just fine. Funny how I’ve become Stone’s 200 lb. Rotty.

Written by sally about 7 years ago.

I wonder if he is having second thoughts about being so strident, insulting people who actually have read and studied the CBPO and who reflect what most people think? and having second thoughts about ignoring what all the HOAs wanted? favoring the minority PEC and the $$$s from Fauquier over tens of thousands of homeowners, represented by HOAs who really do not want this Ordinance? Maybe in his sub-optimal and dandelion way, he is reaching out and beginning to listen? change his tune… just a wild thought?

Written by Barbara Munsey about 7 years ago.

Sally, he may be having second thoughts about dissing the people he’s going to ask for votes for Senate, when one of us (hr-HMM!) posted publicly that it was a 45 mile roundtrip to annoy him for two minutes.

Not to mention the “new civility” being displayed all over AlGore’s internet by some of the defenders of the ordinance.

——————————————–

Wolverine? Wolverine.

Wolverine!

nonononononononononono.

(signed, my name)

Written by sally about 7 years ago.

I am amused how they blame Eugene as the organizer…playsets playsets playsets! when it was probably citizens who told Eugene about the play set issue, and instead of ignoring them and slandering them (like Miller did,) Eugene simply believed them and Eugene ended up having the correct interpretation of the Ordinance! Simple truth, it is too hard for them.

They have this idea that Eugene is somehow a poster child for the far right and if they can attach him to an issue, they think that will make the issue unpopular– then they send Jonathan in a jihad scarf to get in people’s faces at the rally with a flash camera, and somehow think Jonathan serves their interests to make their side of the issue more credible?

Jihad? They are making Eugene a man of the people, standing among the people, “Cairo in Leesburg” and they just do not get it…

Eugene gets it early on, again… they somehow think he will be easy to beat. They are so wrong…

I must interject here, that Eugene “hung on” by 220 votes the last time. That’s the fact of the matter. As to his term this last 3 years, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with his performance (in the lack of his former mob of developer endorsers). He and Lori have meshed well to give a united front to so many of these “Green Gang” initiatives.

Written by Wolfgang about 7 years ago.

BPM, I had a good laugh at your epic dumbassery in the comment above where you admit you’re Stone’s puppy dog.

Written by GStone about 7 years ago.

You may find a small part of the answer as to why he is changing his tune specific to his assertion that the CBPO opposition was only as broad as the LCRC ex-com on the LCBOS Webcast Archive from Feb 14 2011. My remarks occured at 1:52:26, I was the last speaker.

Wolfgang – back to school for you. That nasty ADD is acting up again.Reading comprehension suffers. Anyone here can tell you that I’m my own man, and I sit second-fiddle to no one. I respect a precious few. Stone is in that number.

Hey, Wolve. You see the one comment I made. I don’t go for this pseudo touchy-feely crap. It tends to allow those that would “pull the wool over your eyes” to get away with it unscathed. I am one that will call you out and get to the point; call a spade a spade per se. Yes, it can be done without intense hostility but if something I say hurts your feelings, well you are A) in the wrong business, B) skin is too thin, C) feeling guilty about what you got called on or 6) left your mother’s skirt before you were ready.

This is a self-inflicted wound, Yank. You asked for it and I guess you just didn’t understand what you would reap. Since these people look up to you so much, you could better explain yourself to reach the desired results. From the way it sounds to me, it’s not as much fun for you as it was before. Take a Tums and get over it. Me, I’m using tact. Is it working????

Written by Wolverine about 7 years ago.

Well, ACT, you have to admit that both here and on TC there has been a marked diminishing of late of the use of imbecile, POS, idiot, liar, a**hole, douchebag, scumbucket, teabagger, libtard, and a whole litany of other unpleasant descriptors. I am even back to reading TC because, like this blog, there is a whole lot of info out there for someone like myself who spent years with his head in the world of international affairs and knew more about how Third World governments and parties worked than he did about the county in which he hung his hat between tours abroad. But, I will tell you that, in some places in which I have lived and worked, the invective I’ve heard on blogs in this country could earn you a machete whack between the ears. That causes you to learn real quick how to govern both your mouth and your pen, so to speak. Just my continuation of that mentality in situ, I would guess. So, march on, Reb. I’ll cover your back. Now, isn’t that a Hell of a note for a couple of guys who would probably have been shooting at each other for keeps a 150 years ago?

Remember, Wolve. Back then we took “civility” breaks to jaw, exchange goods and just rest a little from hostilities. It’s not like we weren’t kinfolk, neighbors or the such. Heck, we even liked you all some. It’s just you Yanks always were butting into our affairs and then ya go and invade our souveriegn states. But your a good ol’ boy and I appreciate you watching my six as I will cover yours. Now get back into the mix with your bad self!